Interpretation Response #25-0011

Below is the interpretation response detail and a list of regulations sections applicable to this response.

Interpretation Response Details

Response Publish Date: 07/24/2025

Company Name: Daly's Wood Finishing Products

Individual Name: Courtney Ostbye

Location State: WA Country: US

View the Interpretation Document

Response text:

July 24, 2025

Courtney Ostbye
Director of Operations
Daly's Wood Finishing Products
A Division of Farwest Paint Mfg. Co
4522 S. 133rd St
Tukwila, WA  98168

Reference No. 25-0011

Dear Ms. Ostbye:

This letter is in response to your January 21, 2025 letter requesting clarification of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) applicable to the segregation requirements of a two-component wood bleach solution. You state that your company manufactures and markets a wood bleach solution comprising both "UN1824, Sodium hydroxide solution, 8, II"—which is referred to as bleach solution A—and "UN2014, Hydrogen peroxide, aqueous solution, 5.1 (8), II"—which is referred to as bleach solution B. You state that each component is packaged individually in a pint, quart, or gallon plastic bottle. You further state the pint and quart-sized plastic bottles are enclosed together in the same industrial polyethylene bags, while the gallon-sized bottles are packaged separately in polyethylene bags; and then, in both cases, the components are packaged together in United Nations (UN) fiberboard boxes. Lastly, you state that these components are designed to be mixed by the end-user (i.e., customer) and pose no risk of combustion, evolution of considerable heat, evolution of flammable or poisonous gases or vapors, or the formation of corrosive or unstable substances when mixed. You ask does the segregation requirements in § 176.83(b) of the HMR and Chapter 7.2 of the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code apply to the components of this kit?

You are correct in that the segregation requirements in the table in § 176.83(b) indicate that these two components would not be allowed in the same shipping container, and therefore they would not be allowed in the same outer packaging. However, one of the provisions for the segregation requirements is found in § 176.83(a)(4)(ii), where it states that segregation is not required between hazardous materials of different classes which comprise a group of substances that do not react dangerously with each other. That provision goes on to list some materials that are grouped by compatibility. It should be noted that there may be additional groups of materials that are compatible and do not react dangerously with each other that are not listed in paragraph (a)(4)(ii)(A) through (C), even when segregation applies in accordance with § 176.83(b). The IMDG Code contains a similar provision in Section 7.2.6.3.2.

Additionally, all packagings of hazardous materials must comply with § 173.21(e), which states that it is forbidden to offer for transportation "a material in the same packaging, freight container, or overpack with another material, the mixing of which is likely to cause a dangerous evolution of heat, or flammable or poisonous gases or vapors, or to produce corrosive materials."

I hope this information is helpful. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,

T. Glenn Foster
Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention Branch
Standards and Rulemaking Division

§ 173.21(e), § 176.83(a)(4)(ii), § 176.83(a)(4)(ii)(A), (B), (C), § 176.83(b)

Regulation Sections